1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a logo data generating method for generating logo data to be stored in a printer that prints internally registered logo data according to a specific print command, is connected to a data storage medium for storing a computer program that achieves the logo data generating method, to a computer program product containing executable commands for storing the logo data in the printer, and to a system for generating logo data.
2. Description of the Related Art
A logo is generally used in reference to a graphic symbol such as a trademark identifying a store or company and, as relates to the present invention, is printed on a sales receipt by a point-of-sale (POS) terminal printer. As used herein, a logo also includes advertising information, coupons, announcements or notifications, and other relatively static information that is similarly printed to a sales receipt.
It will also be noted that “color reduction” is used herein to mean reducing color depth or to convert an image to a gray scale or halftone image.
In addition to printing the purchased products, price, and other transaction information to sales receipts, modern POS terminals also commonly print a logo containing a store or company name or emblem on the receipt. Logos such as these printed by POS terminals typically contain a design graphic and decorative characters, and most logos therefore consist of image data; that is, they are image files.
Image files are typically rather large, which means there would be a noticeable increase in the time required to print each receipt if the logo data is sent to the printer each time a receipt is printed. It is also desirable to complete the checkout process, that is, register the purchased products and print the receipt to complete the transaction, as quickly as possible. Fast printing is therefore particularly desirable for a POS terminal.
Frequently printed logo data is therefore commonly stored in the non-volatile memory, or storage, of the POS terminal printer, which then reads the logo data from the non-volatile memory when a specific print command is received from the host system to print the logo. This technique eliminates the need to send the logo data (particularly image data) from the host, thus reducing the load on the host, eliminating the corresponding transmission time, and thereby significantly improving the effective print speed.